


When Things go According to Plan

by New_Elysia



Category: The Chronicles Of Vladimir Tod - Zac Brewer
Genre: AU, Gen, Melina and Adrian live, New York, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 14:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11163870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/New_Elysia/pseuds/New_Elysia
Summary: What Tomas didn't figure out won't hurt him.





	When Things go According to Plan

Vlad looked back over his shoulder, the young Halfling boy watched his mother pace the foyer behind him. The sound of the Television playing in the back ground, a show he’d been watching before his mother’s pacing caught his attention.

She seemed worried for some reason, it also seemed like she was waiting for someone or something.

Vlad’s onyx eyes continued to watch her, Melina’s yellow sun dress shifting with each movement. His mother didn’t seem to notice her son watching, Vlad wondered what had his mother acting like this.

She rarely got this worked up, while she worried, she never paced or watched the clock so intently.

Vlad began the wonder if he should ask, maybe this had something to do with the fact he’d turned his parents alarm clock off the day before, when he’d thought he’d let them sleep in.

His dad hadn’t been happy when Vlad got home, he’d scolded Vlad, telling him never to do that again. Tomas said he’d narrowly missed some important meeting because of that, something Vlad didn’t know beforehand.

Vlad had just wanted to do something nice for them and prove he was old enough to get to school on his own.

Vlad moved to turn, he still wanted to ask his mom what was wrong, but he wasn’t sure if she wanted him to know.

As Vlad got situated again, a loud knock came from the front door. Vlad was certain it was just his father, after all, Tomas had left to run errands in Stokerton that morning.

Vlad heard his mother hurriedly walk to the door, he looked back again to see her open the door just slightly and look through the crack.

His mother then seemed to relax visibly and opened the door entirely. From his position, Vlad couldn’t see who was outside, but he could hear them.

“Melina Tod?” a male voice asked.

His mother nodded then spoke “Adrian?” there was a pause, in which Vlad guessed the man would have nodded.

Vlad frowned, he couldn’t recall his parents knowing anyone with that name. Atleast, no one they spoke about or to around him.

The Halfling boy wondered if he was one of his dad’s friends.

Vlad watched his mother move to the side, allowing their visitor into the house. She closed the door once he was inside.

The man looked young, possibly younger that Vlad’s parents. He was in a dark brown two piece suite, similar to what Vlad had seen Tomas wear on occasion.

“I was worried when I didn’t see a car outside, I thought I’d missed you or that something had happened.” The man said.

Melina shook her head “we only have one car, Tomas took it when he left for Stokerton this morning.”

The man’s dark eyes moved from Melina to Vlad, almost as if he’d sensed the boy was watching. A warm smile spread on his lips “and this must be young Vladimir.” He said, the Halfling sank down a little.

“Your mother has told me quite a bit about you, little one.” He said, looking back to Melina. “When you said he looked like his father, I didn’t realize it would be this much of a resemblance.”

That wasn’t an uncommon statement for Vlad, people always said he and his father looked nearly identical. From their raven black hair to the pale skin and onyx eyes, Vlad was a near carbon copy of Tomas.

“Mom, who is this?” Vlad asked, finding the will to speak. It may have sounded like a mean question, but Vlad wanted to know.

They didn’t get many visitors outside of Henry and his family. The only real exception were people from the neighborhood attending their yearly Halloween party.

“He’s a friend of mine, Vladimir.” Melina said, coming over to sit next to her son.

His mother placed her hand on Vlad’s “we’re going to go on a little trip today, but we’re going to have to hurry and get packed.” Melina said softly, her eyes moving back to the man named Adrian.

He walked over, but didn’t take seat “we’re going to New York, little one. Have you ever been there?”

Vlad shook his head, no he hadn’t. he’d never really left Bathery, and he’d only rarely been to Stokerton, but that was just to see a movie or do some extra school shopping with his parents.

“What about dad?” Vlad asked, looking at his mother.

“We’ll be meeting up with your father later, for now it will be just us.” Melina said quietly, a frown on her face.

His mother then smoothed Vlad’s hair back “but we do have to hurry, otherwise we’ll be late.” She said, then pressed on Vlad’s back.

“Go get your things packed, a few pairs of clothing and the other necessities.” She said, Vlad looked at his mother in confusion. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

Why would his mother want them to leave with someone Vlad had never seen or met before? And why weren’t they leaving with dad?

Vlad wanted to ask questions, to get answers before leaving. But it didn’t seem like they had time to talk.

The Halfling boy jogged up the steps and into his room, it took little time for Vlad to pick out what he thought he need for this trip.

The boy stuffed everything haphazardly into his backpack and zipped it up. Vlad looked around, making sure he had everything, and then he left.

He wondered what was going on, he couldn’t recall his parents mentioning a vacation of any sort in the past few weeks.

Was this supposed to be a surprise for his birthday? Something they didn’t want him to know about until now?

If so, who was this Adrian guy and what did he have to do with any of this?

When Vlad got back into the living room, he saw his mother standing there with a backpack of her own. “Are you both ready?” Adrian asked.

Melina nodded then looked at Vlad, the Halfling boy nodded and looked at his mother.

Melina reached down, taking Vlad’s hand in hers and then pulled him towards the front door.

Vlad gave his mother a questioning look as they walked out the door, the sun had been shining earlier. But now it was cloudy, like it was about to storm.

Vlad noticed a small black car sitting in front of their house. It wasn’t his father’s car, he knew it wasn’t.

The man opened the back door and stood there, waiting. It seemed like he expected Vlad to just climb in.

Vlad looked up at his mother, moving to stand behind her. He’d been warned about situations like this before, his mother always reminded him that getting into a car with a stranger wasn’t safe. And to Vlad, Adrian was basically a stranger.

“Mom, I think we should just go back in.” he said, tugging on Melina’s hand.

His mother turned and knelt down “Vladimir, I’m your mother, right?” she asked, gently swiping Vlad’s bangs from his face. The young Halfling nodded in response.

“And you know I would never, ever, put you in harm’s way?” Melina put her hands on Vlad’s shoulders, “I trust him, Vlad, so you can too. He won’t hurt us, I promise.”

Vlad looked back at Adrian, who still stood there holding the door open. He seemed to be looking around, appearing wary of their surroundings.

Vlad swallowed and walked over.

Adrian took his back pack as Vlad climbed in. the boy buckled his seat belt and looked over when the man set his bag and Melina’s in the floor next to him.

Vlad looked up as his mother sat down in the car, closing the door behind her and buckling her seat belt.

His mother then looked back, a reassuring smile on her face.

 

* * *

 

Vlad stared out the windows of the taxi as the tall buildings and crowds of people passed them by. Vlad was all but mesmerized by the city’s sheer size. He knew Stokerton to be big, but New York seemed to be on a whole other scale.

The city felt like completely different world than the little town he’d grown up in.

The plan ride had also left the Halfling boy amazed, it was the first time he’d ever down something like that. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the window the entire flight, he’d been so caught up in watching the clouds and ground below, and he hadn’t noticed when his mother had fallen asleep.

The cab came to a stop just outside on of the buildings, Vlad looked up at a sign that declared it to be V-Bar.

He looked back to his mother and Adrian, Melina smiled at him as the man got out and rounded the back of the car. He opened Vlad’s door and helped the boy out, the Melina.

After taking their bags from the trunk, Melina clasped Vlad’s hand in hers before starting for the door.

There was the chime of a bell as it opened, Vlad looked around, noticing that it was a bar or restaurant of sorts.

Though, it seemed to be mostly empty. A stark difference from the crowded streets outside.

Vlad counted three other people, a man with dark features behind the bar, another man with red hair and tan skin sitting on a barstool, and a little girl with curly blond hair sitting at one of the booths.

Vlad could see she was coloring, and hadn’t seemed to notice them.

The man behind the bar however, seemed to take notice of their arrival immediately. A grin spread across his face and he spoke “Adrian, you’re back already.”

Vlad couldn’t help but notice the man’s thick accent as the man behind the bar looked to Vlad and his mother.

“And you’ve brought some friends, I see.” Vlad noticed that he somehow sounded even happier than before. As impossible as he’d thought it was.

Vlad noticed the red haired man look over at them, no he wasn’t looking at them. He was looking right at Vlad.

Hazel eyes seemed fixed on the Halfling boy. Vlad looked to his mother, who still held tightly to his hand.

“You must be Melina.” The red haired man said, turning in his seat to face them.

“And you’re…” Vlad notice his mother’s hand tensing around his.

“Dorian” the man completed. Then, he gestured to the seats beside him.

Vlad climbed up onto one of the tall stools, his small stature making it a little more difficult. He’d always been smaller and shorter than most of his class mates and had been hoping a growth spurt would help change that sometime soon.

“I’m glad to see you made it, I was worried that Tomas would complicate your departure.” Dorian said.

“yes well, fortunetly for us, Tomas wasn’t at home when Adrian stopped by, so we managed to leave in secret.” Melina said, looking around the bar.

Vlad looked at the man behind the counter as he leaned in “is there anything I can get the two if you?” he asked with a smile.

Melina looked to Vlad “oh, just water for me.” She said, “what about you, honey, do you want anything?”

“Uh, just some soda or something.” The boy said nervously.

Vlad watched the man nod and turn to get their drinks.

“Where do we go from here?” Melina suddenly asked, making Vlad look at her.

Dorian was quiet for a moment, the he spoke “there are a few places I can send you, places where Tomas and Elysia won’t be able to find you.” The red haired man said.

Vlad frowned, he found it odd that Dorian had mentioned his dad. Shouldn’t Tomas be with him and Melina?

“And what about Vladimir?” his mother gestured to the boy.

“Don’t worry, there will be other vampires there to help you, ones who will be able to assist in teaching the boy about his heritage.”

Vlad’s ears perked up “other vampires?” he asked, his onyx eyes wide.

The man behind the bar chuckled as he set two cups down on the bar top “has your father told you anything about Elysia, little on?”

Vlad shook his head and Melina spoke “Tomas has never really spoken about other vampires, I know little to nothing aside from what he’s told me.”

Dorian then looked to Vlad, the boy had picked up his cup and was taking a sip through the straw.

“Little one” Dorian began, drawing Vlad’s attention.

The raven haired boy watched him roll up one of his sleeves, exposing a tattoo with thick black lines and a pair of parentheses on his wrist. “Do you have any marks like this?”

Vlad shook his head, eyeing the black ink.it seemed interesting to say the least, but Vlad was sure his mother would kill him if he even drew something like that on his arm with marker, let alone getting an actual tattoo like that.

“If I did, would I be in trouble?” he asked, Dorian smiled “No, little one. But perhaps it’s best that you don’t, atleast for now.”

The Halfling boy took another sip from his drink, wondering what Dorian meant by that.

“You can both stay with me tonight, we can continue discussing what to do next tomorrow.” Dorian said.

“Are you sure about that, Dorian?” the man behind the bar asked, Vlad couldn’t help but wonder why he sounded so concerned.

“Of course” Dorian said, “the other pent house is unoccupied right now and they’ll be much safer there than anywhere else.”

Vlad wondered what they had to be safe from, it couldn’t be Tomas. That was his dad, if there was anyone Vlad could trust, it was him.

Tomas was the one who always kept them safe, he made sure Vlad understood to never expose his Vampiric heritage.

If they were in trouble, Tomas could and would protect them, right?

“No, that’s not necessary, I can get Vladimir and myself a hotel for the evening.” Melina said quickly.

Dorian shook his head, displacing a few copper colored locks “no, it’s far too expensive in the city, and I have no doubt that Tomas will be sending someone after you both. If you’re with me, you won’t have to worry about anyone trying to get to you or your son.”

Vlad looked down at his drink, using the straw to stir the bubbly brown liquid and ice around the glass.

The Halfling wasn’t sure what to do, none of this was making sense to him. Why were they trying to stay away from his dad?

Vlad had always been able to tell that they were in love, something he didn’t quite understand yet, but he could see it.

“Tomorrow, after you’ve both gotten plenty of rest, we’ll begin planning where to send you.” Dorian said with a smile.

The copper haired man then looked over his shoulder.

Vlad notice the little girl coming over with a sheet of paper in her hand, it appeared to be covered in scribbles from crayons.

She handed it to Dorian, who smiled at her and thanked her. Vlad quickly learned that her name was Cecile, or something like that.

The girl smiled back, but didn’t say anything.

Dorian looked back at Vlad, “little one why don’t you go play with Cécile and let me and your mother continue talking.”

For some reason, Vlad felt a little insulted. He was much too old for things like coloring/ plus, the girl was probably half his age. He couldn’t think of any games to play in the building either, so what was he supposed to do?

Vlad wanted to protest, but his mother smiled and gently nudged him. “I’ll be right here, Vladimir, if you need anything just tell me.” She said, there was a smile on her lips, but Vlad felt like it wasn’t completely genuine.

The Halfling boy’s shoulders slumped and he jumped down with his drink in hand and walked back to the booth with the girl.

 

* * *

 

Vlad tugged the covers to his chest as he laid there, the boy hadn’t been able to fall asleep since he’d gotten into the bed.

It wasn’t like he didn’t feel tired, truthfully he was exhausted. But the thing was, the bed just didn’t feel right to him.

This wasn’t his bed, this wasn’t his room where he’d fallen asleep countless times.

This was a hotel room, well sort of. It had been where he and his mother had spent the rest of the afternoon after visiting the bar and speaking with Dorian. The man had brought them something to eat and sat talking idly with them until night fall.

He then bid them a good night and left.

It wasn’t too long after that they’d headed for bed and Vlad had just laid there for what seemed like an eternity, just trying to get to sleep in this unfamiliar bed.

Vlad felt the urge to go wake his mom up, to ask her if he could sleep with here tonight.

It felt silly to think about, Vlad hadn’t done that in what felt like years. He was a big kid, capable of sleeping on his own.

Vlad nearly jumped with a shrill ringing broke the silence. It was a phone.

Vlad sat up in bed, waiting a moment for his mother to get up and answer it.

When he didn’t hear here footsteps, Vlad tossed the covers aside and stood.

The carpet muffled his footsteps as he left the room. Outside was a wide open space with a small bar, kitchen and living room all mixed into one big room?

Vlad looked around, spotting a phone sitting on a glass top table next to the couch.

He walked over and pulled the phone off the base. “Hello?” he said quietly, trying his best not to wake his mother up.

Vlad was sire that she wouldn’t be happy that he was up and walking around so late in the night.

“Vladimir? Vladimir is that you?” Vlad felt his heart skip a beat, he recognized that voice.

“Dad?” he couldn’t believe it, it was definitely his dad’s voice on the other end.

“Vladimir, where are you? Where is your mother?” the two questions came out quickly, his father sounded panicked and rushed.

Vlad glanced behind him, there was no one else in the room, aside from a rather large looking cat that lay curled up on the couch next to the table. Vlad couldn’t recall seeing it when they arrived, though maybe it was Dorians’ and it had been hiding from them.

“We’re in new York.” Vlad said, his free hand coming up to grip the phone cord “Dad, what’s going on? Mom’s acting strange, did something happen?”

“Vladimir, it’s important that I talk to your mother. Give her the phone.” Tomas said sternly.

“Mom’s asleep” Vlad said, his hand tightening around the receiver.

“Vladimir, this is very important, wake your mother up and give her the phone.” Tomas ordered, Vlad suddenly felt sick. Something felt wrong and he wasn’t sure what it was.

“Little on” Vlad looked over his shoulder, seeing Dorian standing behind him. Vlad could hear his father’s voice calling for him, trying to regain his attention.

But Vlad was now focused on Dorian, the man’s face was an unreadable mask. Vlad wasn’t sure if he was annoyed, angry, or displeased.

Dorian reached down, his hand taking the phone receiver from Vlad and placing it back on the hook, ending the call.

“You shouldn’t be up right now, Vladimir.” Dorian said, Vlad looked down. He was expecting to be in trouble, Dorian would probably tell his mom when she woke up.

Dorian reached down and placed a hand on Vlad’s shoulder “go back to bed, I won’t tell your mother about the phone call if you won’t.” The man said quietly.

Vlad looked up, then nodded quietly.

“If the phone rings again, don’t answer it and don’t let your mother answer it either, okay?”

Vlad was quiet for a moment before saying “okay”

Dorian then moved out of Vlad’s way, letting the Halfling boy run back to his room.

On his way out, Vlad noticed that the cat that had been curled up on the couch had disappeared. Vlad wondered where it had run off to or if he’d just imagined it.

Regardless, he was sure that something was going on and he felt confused and scared. He hopped he’d be able to get some kind of an answer soon.


End file.
